Jose Mourinho believes the selling club are always in control
The Chelsea manager, whose side host Stoke today, was asked whether he had ever experienced similar circumstances when a player wanted to leave and pointed to the high-priced sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona when he was at Inter Milan.
"I lost my best player in Inter too. Ibrahimovic. It worked out well but the situation was simple: the player wants to go, wants to go, wants to go. We didn't want. But Mr [Massimo] Moratti [then Inter president] analysed it with me and the board, the amount of money we wanted for him and that we needed a top striker to replace him and we found a solution with Barcelona of changing Ibra for [Samuel] Eto'o plus a certain amount of money.
"Every deal is possible. But the club that sells is in control, not the club that buys. Not the agent, not the cousin. My opinion is every player has a price."
Mourinho also stated Petr Cech's wishes will be respected, due to his legendary status at the club, after the goalkeeper admitted in midweek that he may have to consider an exit due to his relegation to second-choice behind Thibaut Courtois.
"Petr Cech is not a player, he's an institution and with institutions you have to deal with things in a different manner," said Mourinho.
"He won in this club the right to be looked at and respected in a different way. He deserves a special perspective."
Mourinho also revealed that Chelsea could make two signings this summer.
"That's easy because everything starts with the squad we have and the players we want to keep," he said. "And in that regard there is not a big space for new faces. The new faces will be a couple and will be a consequence of what the market can dictate. Easy job for that."
Stoke Steven Nzonzi, meanwhile, is in the form of his career ahead of his 100th appearance today and manager Mark Hughes has urged France to recognise the midfielder's fine form.
Petr Cech Player Profile
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Hughes said: "I'd be surprised if French managers now and in the past haven't had a look at him. He's as close as he has ever been.
"He has ambitions to get into the French team and why not? Steven's technically good on the ball, he displays week in, week out in the Premier League a lot of things you need at international level.
"He has played in the top league in European football for a few years now and given a good account of himself.
"Maybe his profile isn't as high as some of the other players in the Premier League but you raise your profile by how well you play. That's all he needs to worry about.
"This season he has gone up a level from what he produced last year."
